


Old Habits

by Angel Ascending (angel_in_ink)



Series: The Mighty Nein Go To The Beach! (Critical Role Relationship Week 2018) [5]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Background Beau/Jester/Yasha, Background Fjord/Caleb/Molly, But Really Everything Is Fluffy And Good, Critical Role Relationship Week 2018, F/F, Really just fluff, Yasha Is A Little Bit Anxious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 16:03:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15004406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel_in_ink/pseuds/Angel%20Ascending
Summary: Yasha has been outside of Xhorhas for awhile now, but some habits persist no matter where she is. As soon as she opens her eyes she checks on the people around her. It’s always the duty of the leader to be the first to wake, to check on their people, to make sure they are well and haven’t been carried off in the night or had some other tragedy befall them. Yasha knows she’s not the leader of the Mighty Nein, no one seems to be, and she wasn’t even the first person up. Yet still, she checks.





	Old Habits

Yasha wakes up from a dream where she was trying to trade a copy of Tusk Love to a person selling living crystal birds, and the first thing she hears is the sound of something clinking together. Yasha doesn’t move, and keeps her eyes closed, only relaxing when she hears Nott’s muttering along with the clinking. Nott’s sorting out her shell collection again, that’s all it is. No threat there.

Yasha has been outside of Xhorhas for awhile now, but some habits persist no matter where she is. As soon as she opens her eyes she checks on the people around her. It’s always the duty of the leader to be the first to wake, to check on their people, to make sure they are well and haven’t been carried off in the night or had some other tragedy befall them. Yasha knows she’s not the leader of the Mighty Nein, no one seems to be, and she wasn’t even the first person up. Yet still, she checks.

Beau’s in the hammock to her left, still sleeping, one leg hanging off the side. She’s not snoring, thankfully, and Yasha watches the rise and fall of her chest for several moments before moving on.

Cali is curled up on her side, her dragon arm tucked underneath her, her dark hair hiding her face, moving slightly with her breathing. Her tail twitches, like Molly or Jester’s tail does when they’re sleeping, and she too, seems to be fine.

Yasha already knows Nott is fine. The only person who isn’t here who should be is Jester, who had been sleeping with Beau last night, but Yasha isn’t concerned about her yet. Jester is an early riser, and she’s nearly often up before Yasha herself. Yasha carefully sits up and swings her legs over the side of the hammock before getting to her feet. She’d never slept in a hammock before this trip and now she wonders how she ever got along without having one.

“Morning, Nott,” Yasha says softly. “Do you know which way Jester went?”

Nott looks up from her shell collection and points further up the beach. “She had her sketchbook and all her drawing stuff with her. She left food for us. I may have eaten all the bacon. And the papaya.”

Yasha smiled, thanking Nott and walking over to the little table that sat in the shelter of the cabana. There were two bowls of mango, one bowl of pineapple, and one empty bowl beside an empty plate. Jester remembers little things about people, such as everyone’s favorite fruit. Yasha takes the bowl full of pineapple chunks and pops several in her mouth, chewing happily for a moment before walking over to Beau’s hammock.

“Beau,” she whispers. “Want to help me find Jester?”

“Mmmrrph,” Beau replies, shifting a little but not opening her eyes. A moment later she begins to snore.

Yasha chuckles, kissing Beau on the forehead and moving on. It still feels strange not to take her sword with her, just like it feels strange to be walking around in what she considers to basically be underwear, but is actually a bathing suit, soft gray like her regular clothes.

Checking on people when she had lived at the carnival had been easy, because, well, Molly was the only person who felt like _hers_ in that way. She goes to check on him now, and knows that Jester has been this way because there is a bowl of strawberries by Molly’s hammock, and a bowl of papaya for Fjord. There are apples as well, Caleb seems to enjoy more familiar fruit rather than the exotic. There is also bacon, slightly warm, and Yasha steals a piece and chews on it thoughtfully as she checks on Molly.

Molly is laying curled on his side away from the hammock Caleb and Fjord are sharing, but the two hammocks are close enough that Molly’s tail is curled around Caleb’s wrist, and that is frankly adorable. Yasha smiles and hunkers down until she’s at about eye level with Molly.

“Molly. Want to help me find Jester?”

Molly’s eyes open a fraction, just the barest of red slits looking at her. “In the ocean of dreams, strange fish swim,” he says, words slurred with sleep.

Yasha is used to Molly saying odd things in his sleep or right before he wakes. Sometimes it’s nonsense, but not always, and she remembers the phrase for later. “All right then,” she whispers and kisses his forehead. “Go back to sleep.”

Molly’s eyes close and he shifts slightly, tail tugging Caleb’s wrist. Caleb makes a soft sound and shifts closer to Molly, and Fjord shifts closer to Caleb in response. Yasha wouldn’t be surprised if all three of them ended up sprawled across two hammocks somehow.

Yasha walks further up the beach, walking close enough to the water that it runs over her bare feet with every wave, the sand cool against her toes. She doesn’t enjoy swimming as much as some of the others do, but she enjoys the feeling of the water around her ankles well enough. The sound of the ocean is soothing, and it goes a little way to ease the anxiety she’s starting to feel bubbling up in her chest. This isn’t Xhorhas, where the ground is cursed and literally everything tries to kill you. Yasha knows this. This land is full of trees and flowers and birds and she doesn’t have to spend every second assuming something is going to try and kill her and her friends and loved ones. Jester is probably swimming or drawing or praying to the Traveler and everything is fine. Really.

Yasha finds Jester in the shade of a sand dune, drawing something in her sketchbook, and the wave of relief that floods her is so strong that she’s nearly dizzy with it. Maybe she makes a sound, or maybe it’s coincidence that Jester looks up. Yasha watches Jester’s whole face light up as Yasha walks over.

“There you are!” Jester says, as if she had been looking for Yasha instead of Yasha looking for her. “I had the weirdest dream last night, and I wanted to draw it for the Traveler before I forgot.” She reaches up and tugs on Yasha’s hand until Yasha sits down next to her, which Yasha gladly does. She gives Jester a kiss, tasting sugar on Jester’s lips, and doesn’t let go of the tiefling’s hand. Jester smiles, her tail wrapping around Yasha’s waist as she spreads the open sketchbook across both their laps, brushing away a few stray pastry crumbs.

“So I was dreaming about an ocean, except it was full of stars, and you could breathe and stuff, and there were these really pretty fish swimming through the stars, all red and purple and green and blue and pink and super shiny and bright. And there were these other fish, all flat and with _way_ too many mouths and eyes, and then there were some squid looking ones with all these tentacles and—“

Yasha leans her head against Jester’s shoulder and squeezes her hand, finally content.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm angel-ascending over on Tumblr if y'all want to stop by and say hi!


End file.
